TOLEDO, Ohio — "We can do better and we should do better."
Those are the words of Toledo Police Chief Mike Troendle as he addressed the public safety committee about the arrest of Brandon Upchurch with the use of a K-9 after a camera mistakenly marked his vehicle as stolen.
Councilwoman Vanice Williams was the first to speak on the issue. She said this incident brought her back to a time she thought was long gone.
"To see Black men be attacked by dogs in 2024 in comparison to 1963, it's hurtful because I know the work that has been done to stop that," Williams said. "It hurts me as a Black woman, it hurts me as a mother, it hurts me as a dog owner."
Also in attendance was Councilwoman Cerssandra McPherson. She questioned TPD's policies and why officers never asked Upchurch for his license or registration. The councilwoman said the method of the arrest was part of the problem and it never should have happened.
"If they would have asked for his driver's license and ran it like a stop, I think that would have deescalated the situation," McPherson said.
Troendle told the council committee that TPD is looking at its K-9 policies and hopes moving forward, the department can do better.
"Not a good situation, obviously," Troendle said. "Not a good use of the canine in my opinion."
Troendle did not add any additional details about what the specific changes would be and said that until the investigation is settled, the officers involved are back on the street.
"We're finding as we're going through our training and as we're going through our policies, there's a gap there when K-9s are being used," Troendle said. "So there was a combination of things that went wrong in this stop. We identified some things in our training and our policy with our K9s that we think we're going to be able to make changes."
The chief finished his statement to the council by addressing plans for the future.
"We're always trying to figure out if there's a better way to do it and if we're missing something," he said.